The 2013 Pledges Are Upon Us!

On By mpetrella

Note: at the bottom of this post, you’ll be able to submit your pledge. We will post the form in several places, but you may always return to this page to pledge. We will make the form a permanent link on the Blogroll to the right. –>

If the bulk of the text looks familiar, it’s because we posted an almost identical article before the lockout. We’ve changed the teams and dates, and some other details, but it did a decent job of explaining what we’re after.

WHAT
Unless you’re new around these parts, you’re familiar with the Pledge Games we’ve proudly hosted leading up to both H2H and H2H2. In two years’ worth of fundraising, your pledges have accounted for $12,536.06 of the nearly $20,000 that the group has been fortunate to donate to Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation.

Once again, you’ll have the opportunity to pledge your donation dollars. In years past, we’ve gotten some magnificent pledges and we look forward to hearing yours this year. Whether it’s $20 for a Red Wings win, $10 for a Pavel Datsyuk goal, $35 for a Jimmy Howard shutout, or anything in between, we’re anxious to add your promise to our spreadsheet and collect a few bucks here and a few bucks there until the total is something we can all be proud of.

If at all possible, we respectfully request that your pledges are based on something quantifiable — and preferably quantifiable by the post-game statistics. Shots, goals, plus/minus, penalties… all of that is fair game. But when we get into the more bizarre pledges (how many times Larry Murphy mentions hot dogs [not that this is an option this time around], second-period shots if the team is losing, etc), it became insanely difficult to keep track of everything. We’re going to enlist all of the help we can get in counting phenomena, but it would really help us out a great deal if your pledges were based on something easily countable.

Also, let’s try to keep the pledges to things for which there will be no disputes. For example, we may count 4 “Datsyukian Dekes,” but you only saw 3. No one has ever claimed we were trying to gauge them for more money (and I can’t imagine anyone would, since it’s going to a good cause), but the very last thing we want is for someone to feel as if their generosity has been taken advantage of. Some folks can give a dollar, some can give much, much more. But we’re grateful for every last dime and have no interest in stretching you thin.

WHEN
This year, we’re proud to submit the following 11 games for your pledge consideration in hopes that we can double the amount we’ve been able to forward to the charity that’s eventually selected (to be announced in the very near future). For any (or all) of the following games leading up to the Holidays and the Winter Classic, you may place your pledge.

  • 12/1 at Ottawa (featuring The Mustache Behind the Bench with a special appearance by the Alfie Angries!)
  • 12/4 vs. Philadelphia (a reprehensible team full of assholes!)
  • 12/6 at New Jersey (seven-team legend Jaromir Jagr!)
  • 12/7 vs. Florida (lol Tomas Kopecky!)
  • 12/10 at Florida (He’s Our Stephen Weiss Now!)
  • 12/12 at Tampa Bay (Stevie Y and the Beautifully Haired Flip!)
  • 12/14 vs. Pittsburgh (The Hate is Strong Between Us!)
  • 12/15 vs. Tampa Bay (Return of the Handsomes… AND RYAN MALONE!)
  • 12/17 vs. Anaheim (New Conference… Same Old Hatred!)
  • 12/19 vs. Calgary (Hookers4Hudler!)
  • 12/21 at Toronto (Gear up for one of the 15,120 outdoor games!)

DETAILS
We will NOT be handling donations this year. Once the pledge games are completed, you will receive an e-mail with detailed instructions on how to get your donations into the right hands. From that account, we will be delivering a (hopefully huge) check during the Winter Festival, so you’ll have to pay promptly.

You may use the following form (we’ll be pimping it all over the place) to submit your pledge.